{"id":890,"date":"2019-03-12T05:49:57","date_gmt":"2019-03-12T12:49:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/diannebarker.com\/?p=890"},"modified":"2019-03-12T05:50:08","modified_gmt":"2019-03-12T12:50:08","slug":"are-you-living-the-abundant-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/diannebarker.com\/?p=890","title":{"rendered":"Are You Living the Abundant Life?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Abundant life is life with a capital L.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hebrews seemed a difficult book for me. I\u2019d heard much\nteaching on this writing, but it was never my favorite place to read\u2014until I\nopened the Amplified Version.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I found this\nexpanded meaning of the word faith<\/em>:\n\u201cleaning the entire personality on God in absolute confidence in His wisdom,\npower, and goodness.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the time,\nI was having a lot of trouble putting that concept into practice. Years\nearlier, I\u2019d fully surrendered my life to Christ, acknowledging him as Lord.\nBut life\u2019s twists and turns often brought discouragement and defeat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where\u2019s\nthe victory?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

One day I\nnoticed on my messy desk a book, They\nFound the Secret<\/em>, by V. Raymond Edman, former president of Wheaton College.\nHe related the experience of twenty well-known Christians who found the key to abundant\nliving, including John Bunyan, J. Hudson Taylor, Andrew Murray, Oswald\nChambers, Dwight L. Moody, Charles G. Finney, Amy Carmichael, Eugenia Price,\nand Frances Ridley Havergal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019d read\nmost of the stories before the book got buried until a stack of paperwork. Reading\nit again etched in my heart forever the secret to living abundantly in the\nchaos and uncertainty on this earth: relying on the life of the indwelling\nChrist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Edman, who had\nserved as a missionary to Ecuador, through difficult times came to \u201cthe\nrealization that only total abandonment to God could lead to experiencing God\u2019s\nfullest blessing.\u201d His book began as a series of magazine articles to show how\nthe indwelling life of Christ \u201cwas the source of every believer\u2019s spiritual\nstrength.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the\nintroduction: \u201cEvery now and then we come across a life that is radiant,\nrevealing a richness, a warmth, a triumph that intrigues and challenges us\u2026The\ndetails of their experiences are usually quite different; yet\u2026we begin to see a\npattern that reveals their secret. Out of discouragement and defeat they have\ncome into victory. Out of weakness and weariness they have been made strong.\nOut of ineffectiveness and apparent uselessness they have become efficient and\nenthusiastic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe pattern\nseems to be self-centeredness, self-effort, increasing inner dissatisfaction\nand outer discouragement, a temptation to give it all up because there is no\nbetter way, and then finding the Spirit of God to be their strength, their\nguide, their confidence and companion\u2014in a word, their life\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe crisis\nof the deeper life is the key that unlocks the secret of their transformation.\nIt is the beginning of the exchanged life<\/em>\u2026the\nindwelling of the Lord Jesus Christ made real and rewarding by the Holy\nSpirit\u2026life with a capital L<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I rejoiced\nto learn other believers had waded through despair and near hopelessness before\ndiscovering the secret to the amazing life John 10:10 promised. \u201c\u2026I am come that\nthey might have life and that they might have it more abundantly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I gave\nmy heart to Jesus as a child, I didn\u2019t understand that he came into my life as\nSavior and<\/em> Lord. Being so young, I\nwasn\u2019t even sure I\u2019d done all he required to get into heaven. After battling\ndoubt, I settled the issue forever, claiming the promise of Romans 10:13. \u201cFor\nwhosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Something\nwas still missing. <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

How could I access\nall that joy and peace I\u2019d heard so much about? I searched until I found the\nsecret: absolute surrender to the Lord Jesus Christ and constant reliance on\nthe indwelling Holy Spirit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many years\nhave passed since that unforgettable day when I surrendered all I am and have\nto the Lord forever. I stumbled for a while learning to walk by faith<\/em>, \u201cleaning the entire personality on God in absolute\nconfidence in His wisdom, power, and goodness.\u201d I\u2019m finally getting the hang of\nit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So thankful the\nLord pursued me until I could be satisfied with nothing less than living life\nwith a capital L<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How\u2019s your\nChristianity working for you? Consider surrendering your life to the Lord,\nusing this simple prayer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lord, I surrender my life completely to you\u2014husband, children, marriage,\ncareer, home, possessions, finances, talent, time, treasures, ambitions, past,\npresent, future. I want to follow you wholeheartedly. Take the throne of my\nlife, and reign in my heart as Lord of all. Fill me with your Spirit so my life\noverflows with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness,\nand self-control. Use me for your glory. In Jesus\u2019 name, amen.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Welcome to life with a capital L!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tell me what\nyou\u2019ve learned about living abundantly in Christ. And please share this with\nyour friends!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

* They Found the Secret<\/em> (Zondervan 1984)\nis still available on Amazon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a9 Dianne\nBarker 2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Abundant life is life with a capital L. Hebrews seemed a difficult book for me. I\u2019d heard much teaching on this writing, but it was never my favorite place to read\u2014until I opened the Amplified Version. I found this expanded meaning of the word faith: \u201cleaning the entire personality on God in absolute confidence in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[13,301,9,28,302,303],"class_list":["post-890","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","tag-abundant-life","tag-are-you-living-life-with-a-capital-l","tag-dianne-barker","tag-surrender","tag-they-found-the-secret","tag-v-raymond-edman"],"yoast_head":"\nAre you living the abundant life?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Abundant life is life with a capital L.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/diannebarker.com\/?p=890\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Are you living the abundant life?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Abundant life is life with a capital L.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/diannebarker.com\/?p=890\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Dianne Barker\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-03-12T12:49:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-03-12T12:50:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dianne Barker\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dianne Barker\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/diannebarker.com\/?p=890#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/diannebarker.com\/?p=890\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Dianne Barker\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/diannebarker.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ea590e3509988772b4e4f576abf6be1f\"},\"headline\":\"Are You Living the Abundant Life?\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-03-12T12:49:57+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-03-12T12:50:08+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/diannebarker.com\/?p=890\"},\"wordCount\":796,\"commentCount\":2,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/diannebarker.com\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"abundant life\",\"Are you living life with a capital L?\",\"Dianne Barker\",\"surrender\",\"They found the secret\",\"V. 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